Brooklyn finally gets a Japanese market of its own
The expansive Japan Village in Sunset Park combines a grocery store with an array of street-style food stalls
Saying that Brooklyn is a food destination is, at the end of 2018, a full-on platitude. Yet, despite the worldwide culinary experience the borough has been offering, Japanese cuisine has had a shortage of representation. At least until now.
Since mid November, the 20,000-sq.-ft. Japan Village in Sunset Park’s Industry City has been in soft-opening mode (a grand-opening date remains to be announced), with offerings ranging from an outpost of Manhattan’s Japanese supermarket Sunrise Martto back-alley-style stalls that celebrate the wide variety of Japanese comfort food ranging from ramen to okonomiyaki, the decadent savory pancakes. Opening soon are an izakaya-style pub, a Japanese liquor store and, eventually, a dry-goods store offering pottery, stationery and cosmetics.
“We first started looking at this concept two years ago,” said Jim Somoza, Industry City’s director of development. “We realized that there was no Japanese market in Brooklyn at all.” He recalls that, when he was living in Manhattan before relocating to Brooklyn, he frequently visited Katagiri, a storied Japanese grocery.